Here is a masterpiece of unusual substance. The author himself is a peculiar fellow (worth reading about), but this novel has been described as feeling "less like something you've read than something you've dreamed." It is just that. Haunting, mesmerizing prose that picks you up and leaves you suspended, making you care more about the aesthetic quest of the Australian plains than you ever dreamed possible. The Plains goes deep, exploring a world aesthetic, spiritual, and cosmic, all the while impossible to articulate.

Excited for your trip this summer? Most people think of airports as transitory spaces, purposed simply to move us on to more exciting destinations. We generally don't think of them as spaces in and of themselves: encompassing businesses, global enterprises, and employees' lives. Alain de Botton's week spent living in London Heathrow illumines much that is otherwise mysterious about airports. The perfect book to pack in your carry-on: thoughtful, fast paced, and above all, light weight.

All the best recipes have stories behind them. This is a book of beautifully crafted storytelling, both hilarious and poignant, that will set your mouth watering. A wonderful tribute to those who have filled us and enriched our lives with love and good food. Simultaneously one of the best cookbooks and memoirs I have ever read.

Time Pieces is a beautiful telling of an old man's relationship to a city he met when life seemed quite new. The mundane glories--the evening's life upon brick, the wit of old storytellers--were miraculous to the boy, bathetic to the young man, and now treasured by the old author who strives to rediscover childlike wonder. More than just a memoir, it is a plaintive reflection on time. What is the past? Banville writes, "If the present is where we live, the past is where we dream."

This extraordinary little book tackles the word "beauty" in six different languages and cultures. It will expand your linguistic, visual, and emotional vocabulary to enhance the way you perceive beauty, and, consequently, the world.

A delightfully controversial book, there is much here to chew on. Witty, thoughtful, and occasionally funny, Scruton's insight is both timely and timeless in a world where sometimes we just need to slow down and look.

When I first heard about this book, I assumed these were made up places. They aren't. This atlas is full of real states with complex histories that have disqualified them from being official countries. Some are contemporary, some historical, while others have seen their recognition reneged in recent decades. You'll find everywhere from Lakotah (80,000 mi² within the United States), to Taiwan or Catalonia, to a concrete platform off the coast of England, and many more.

Despite his Alabama roots, Dennis Covington only knew about snake handling in a vague sense, until the New York Times asked him to cover a story about a snake handling death in the 1990s. Intrigued by the culture, Covington extended the project and wrote this book. This American subculture is filled with everything from quiet piety to sexual power play; cultish leaders to naive victims. In his thoughtful and elegant book, Covington offers few conclusions, but peels back a side of our country few people know about.

There is no overstating the significance of the Protestant Reformation, and so its 500th anniversary is an event deserving reflection. In Protestantism After 500 Years, two leading Reformation scholars compile essays devoted to how events of 1517 kick-started history's greatest revolution. A must-read for understanding religion's role in the development of modernity.